First Man

Damien Chazelle is back and looking just as good as ever with First Man. Reuniting with Ryan Gosling, First Man is a wonderful, gritty, realistic look at the events that led to the moon landing in 1969. Let’s start with the absolute positives about this film, mainly, the effects. This is the most realistic a sci/fi film has nailed space travel in just about ever. The effects have such a sense of realism, and it shows the struggle that astronauts must endure to fulfill all the tasks that are asked of them. If you ever wanted to get a clear idea from a movie of how space travel works, this is it. Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy give great performances here, dealing with pain, loss, fear, frustration, and anger. I didn’t particularly think that they had the best chemistry, but they certainly worked well together. The screenplay that they worked with was solid, and they delivered it with such realism. Make no mistake, the acting in this is good on all fronts, but what everyone will be talking about is the cinematography, effects, score, and how these different aspects combine to create a thrilling experience in the theater.

Biopics are hard to do at times because at the end of the day, we know how the movie will end. We know they land on the moon. We know Armstrong accomplishes the task. But, the way this movie builds tension with the cinematography and the score, you will be on the edge of your seat hoping nothing goes wrong for the astronauts. Some of the launch sequences feel so realistic that I can feel myself getting a little anxious as things kept happening. The combination of Gosling’s performance, Chazelle’s direction, Sandgren’s cinematography, and Hurwitz’s score make for a surreal experience, and one that I recommend you check in IMAX.

The film is not without its flaws. As is the case with many films of this nature, it can feel mundane at times. There’s not a lot to fill the film’s over two-hour run-time, and the film struggles as a result, feeling sluggish at times. Another element of it was the use of shaky cam at moments where it feels incredibly unnecessary. Shaky cam is fine when the situation calls for it, but there shouldn’t be such a use of shaky cam when characters are simply talking. I can understand that the film is going for realism, but it just didn’t work for me. The other flaw with this film, which isn’t its fault, is that it will not be particularly re-watchable. Much like Gravity, it is a film that looks great in IMAX, but it will never feel the same watching it from home.

Overall, First Man offers some great performances, direction, and shots that will surely make it onto One Perfect Shot’s twitter page, but it struggles in a way. In an odd way, the film feels underwhelming, despite nailing every aspect that it should nail. Nevertheless, it is a phenomenal IMAX experience, and one that I recommend checking out while it is still in theaters. First Man gets an 8.5/10.